PITTSBURGH — For the very first time, we are seeing and hearing from the man at the center of the recently unsealed city hall search warrant.
Former Pittsburgh City Council attorney Dan Friedson sat down with Chief Investigator Rick Earle to talk about his meeting with investigators from the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office.
Friedson says he spoke with investigators twice in 2023 after being instructed by City Council members to meet with them.
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The meetings occurred after the district attorney’s office began looking at a no-bid police staffing study that suggested Pittsburgh was adequately staffed despite being short more than 100 officers.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala said the $180,000 study wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.
Unsealed last week, the search warrant raises questions regarding no-bid contracts, Stop the Violence funds, overestimating revenue to secure favorable bond ratings and ties to the Service Employees International Union and the Working Families Party.
Friedson noted that he met with investigators in his professional capacity and was not acting independently.
“I attended a meeting. I didn’t call this meeting. I wasn’t a rogue whistleblower. I was acting under orders of council who the city of Pittsburgh, the people of the city of Pittsburgh, should be thrilled to know that you council members are fighting to make sure that they could do the people’s business at an arm’s length from special interest groups so they could do their duty to the taxpayers,” Friedson said.
Friedson added that he actually supported Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and the progressive movement.
“I love Gainey. I voted for Gainey. I don’t want bad things to happen to him or any of our elected officials,” Friedson said.
The search warrant details concerns surrounding professional service contracts, including a police staffing study awarded to the firm Matrix.
“Why do we gift this contract to Matrix and they say we’re adequately staffed with police and everybody else in the city that shocked our conscience,” Friedson said.
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The warrant suggests professional service contracts were utilized to benefit Gainey administration supporters, with payments handled by lobbyists to conceal transactions. When asked about allegations regarding payments to supporters, Friedson said, “That is a serious accusation. I’ll let the DA do their work.”
In the warrant, Friedson outlined multiple issues involving Gainey administration officials, including City Solicitor Krysia Kubiak, Chief Operating Officer Lisa Frank, who came to the city after working for SEIU, and Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak.
Friedson stated that those officials routinely attempted to strong-arm council members and Friedson said those three, not Gainey, were running the city.
When asked whether the administration’s actions were criminal or reflected negligence, Friedson said, “That’s a good question. You know, when it comes to our elected officials, I hate to say this, but I think there’s probably a good case to say that they just ruled poorly. It’s not against the law to be a bad ruler.”
Friedson stated that he does not want criminal charges to arise from the investigation.
“No, of course not. I would like to see Kubiak, Pawlak and Frank never take a job again that involves the public trust,” Friedson said.
City Council member Anthony Coghill and former council member Theresa Kail-Smith also met with district attorney investigators. Friedson said he and the council members have faced retaliation and social media criticism following their cooperation with the inquiry.
“I had to explain to my wife, look, you know this is going to come out and someone’s going to call me a racist and Theresa and Anthony as well, and that’s just absurd and ridiculous. If anybody knows, the three of us know that to be a bald-faced malicious lie. It’s an attempt to retaliate against us, and it’s also a warning to anybody else who might be thinking of speaking up,” Friedson said.
No criminal charges have been filed in the case.
The city of Pittsburgh, under new Mayor Corey O’Connor, has turned over thousands of documents to the district attorney’s office, where investigators are reviewing the material.
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11 Investigates reached out to Gainey and members of his administration but has not heard back.
Gainey, in the past, has denied any wrongdoing and said he welcomes the investigation by the district attorney.
Gainey, a former state representative from East Liberty, was appointed as a board member to the State Gaming Commission.
Earlier this week, the head of the house oversight committee of the gaming board urged Gainey to resign because of the allegations contained in the search warrant.
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Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala expressed concern recently that millions of dollars may be unaccounted for, and he has confirmed in the past that his office is looking into no-bid contracts as well as the allocation of federal money from the American Rescue Fund that was given to cities across the country to make ends meet during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Zappala has said he expects charges to be filed in the case.
Zappala has said that some of the funds appropriated for youth programs were never used for the intended purposes.
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